Transparency News 2/24/15

Waldo Jaquith started posting video of state House and Senate floor sessions on his website as a hobby around 2007 or 2008. "I thought I'd have to do this for a year or two and then the General Assembly would say, 'Look, this guy can do it in his spare time. Maybe we should just put up a video ourselves.' " Seven years later, Jaquith is still doing it. The state is not. And that puts Virginia in the minority. The commonwealth is one of only 11 states that don't offer the public archived video or audio of legislative floor proceedings, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Viewers on the General Assembly's website can watch a live feed of the House of Delegates and Senate, but once it's over, the video is gone.
Virginian-Pilot

A bill meant to make it easier for public bodies to begin their meetings with a prayer, but that civil libertarians said was unnecessary and could end up confusing people about what prayers the Constitution does allow died in a state Senate committee. The bill, sponsored by Del. Richard P. "Dickie" Bell, R-Staunton, would allow city councils, county supervisors, school boards and other public bodies to open meetings with a prayer, either by appointing a chaplain or by inviting  religious leaders to do so on a rotation. It dropped an approach, of letting members of the body offer prayers, that the American Civil Liberties Union warned might clash with a recent federal court ruling that members of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors crossed a line of what the Constitution allows when they did so, but with only Christian prayers. 
Daily Press

Since a now-debunked Rolling Stone article pushed sexual assault at the University of Virginia into the forefront of people's minds, there has been a struggle to understand just how prevalent sexual assault is and how the university handles allegations it receives.  It's unlikely accurate numbers ever will be available, said Becky Weybright, executive director of the Sexual Assault Resource Agency, since sexual assault is a notoriously under-reported crime. An estimated 68 percent of sexual assaults aren't reported, according to the Justice Department's National Crime Victimization Survey. Several sets of data recently obtained by The Daily Progress break down exactly how much university officials know about the frequency of sexual assaults on Grounds. The university provided three sources of information: a set of charts produced for Bell based on a specific request he made; a newly-created spreadsheet from the Office of the Dean of Students tracking allegations of sexual misconduct; and information compiled for the Board of Visitors specifically about allegations made after the Rolling Stone article. 
Daily Progress

At Monday’s meeting, the Richmond City Council did not take a vote on a land deal that would free up the riverfront Intermediate Terminal building for the restaurant phase of the Stone project. Before the formal meeting Monday, the council held a closed session on the Stone deal that lasted almost an hour. When the council reconvened in the open, 8th District Councilwoman Reva M. Trammell voted against the required motion to certify that the closed session was properly conducted. “I’m not going to sit up here and lie about it,” Trammell said. “We just sat in that room and said we couldn’t trust one another.” City Attorney Allen L. Jackson then said that Trammell needed to explain why she felt that the discussion that occurred in private had gone beyond the stated reason for it, which was to discuss land transactions related to Stone. Trammell again raised the issue of mistrust among the council members. She pointed specifically to the fact that 4th District Councilwoman Kathy C. Graziano was being given information last year about the pending departure of then-Chief Administrative Officer Byron C. Marshall before the council leadership. Council President Michelle R. Mosby said the closed session was proper and that discussions needed to stick to business on the agenda. “I need you to stick with me,” Mosby, 9th District, told Trammell. City Council regular Chris Dorsey was escorted from the meeting by police after he started talking to Stone’s Spitz while pointing a camera at him.
Times-Dispatch

While city officials rush to finalize a long-delayed deal to bring Stone Brewing Co. to town, two City Council members are keeping details under wraps about their unpublicized trip to the company’s headquarters in San Diego. The purpose of the trip, which took place 10 days ago, is unclear. The council members, Ellen Robertson and Cynthia Newbille, declined to discuss the visit following a City Council Finance Committee meeting Thursday night and didn’t respond to subsequent requests for comment. While City Council members typically handle questions from reporters directly, Newbille apparently passed Style’s inquiry about the trip to council’s public information manager, Steve Skinner.
Style Weekly

The use of body cameras by the Woodstock police passed a milestone recently when the prosecution played video footage of murder defendant Nicole Dawn Miller at her sentencing hearing. Woodstock police Sgt. John Fox said the cameras have proved their value in documenting interactions on the street between police and citizens. Fox said Woodstock keeps its recordings for 90 days and then purges them electronically if they are not needed for a court case. Fox said body cameras are turned on for pedestrian and vehicular stops; incidents involving use of force; victim and witness statements; vehicle searches; serious accidents and property seizures. No recordings are made of anyone lawfully exercising First Amendment rights.
Northern Virginia Daily

National Stories

The legal attack hit Kevin Folta in early February. After receiving a FOIA request from US Right to Know—a nonprofit dedicated to exposing “the failures of the corporate food system“—the University of Florida notified Folta, a food and agricultural science professor at the university, that he would have to turn over all of his e-mails relating to correspondence with 14 different firms involved in agribusiness. His options: Submit all of his emails and allow lawyers to sift through them independently, or spend hours doing it himself alongside legal counsel. The request is a response to public arguments by Folta that genetically modified foods are safe. Folta compares the strength of the scientific consensus on GM safety to the consensus on climate change and vaccines, and US Right to Know—or USRTK—believes the food and agricultural industries may be pressuring Folta and other scientists into voicing such arguments.
Wired

Editorials/Columns

If you owe, you’re owned. Any typical mortgage holder knows that if you owe on your house, you don’t own your house — the bank does, and potentially could call in that mortgage. The principle is similar in politics. If you owe someone a favor, there’s the risk that some sort of payment might be called on that debt. Politicians and public officials should owe their allegiance instead to the public and to constituents. Keeping tabs on anyone else they might owe — such as political donors — is the main reason for financial disclosure laws. We at least can see where the gifts are coming from and make an educated guess about whether political favors are being granted in return. But what about literal debts? There’s a loophole that’s only recently been considered. About one in five Virginia legislators lists having at least $50,000 in personal debt besides a mortgage, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. Although the current ethics package does not include steps to close this loophole, additional action could be forthcoming. Leaders in both the House and Senate say they are interested in having a new ethics advisory panel devise new disclosure forms that would reveal more about a legislator’s debts. Such details could be extremely important — and preventative. If lawmakers know that their finances are being scrutinized at this level, they might be more careful about how they conduct themselves around so-called friends and gift-givers. After all, it’s not just who you know that counts — it’s who you owe.
Daily Progress

We started asking questions when we learned that Mayor Dwight C. Jones was planning to hold an invitation-only reception to honor the five Richmonders who formed the first African-American majority on City Council. Is there a reason, we asked, that this is a private, invitation- only event for what appears to involve the public? Is there some reason the mayor is spending tax dollars to hold this event at a private venue, The Hippodrome Theater, as opposed to City Hall? The result: A change and opening of the program to the public. We’re still puzzled why the relatively tiny — and costly — private theater is considered the most “appropriate” venue for a reception that can be held in a fine public space such as the spacious Observation Deck on the 18th floor of City Hall.
Richmond Free Press